A Love Lost
by Sonochu
Summary: Paulina's dreams finally come true one day when Phantom asks her on a date. Already thinking she's in love with him, this relationship will change everything she thought she knew about her ghostboy. Oneshot


**Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.**

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Paulina knew what love was. It wasn't a hard emotion to figure out really. All that was needed was a strong physical attraction between two people that didn't fade away. As long as the kiss still gave you that spark that everyone heard so much about in romance novels, though she would never be caught dead reading them, that was just what she needed for her reputation, you would be defined as in love.

This was how she knew she had two loves in her life, Dash Baxter and Danny Phantom. Dash had to be the most fit man in all of Casper High. With his naturally bulky build and strong muscle, he was the perfect man to hold her affection. As for Phantom, while he wasn't nearly as well built as the former, he was fit all the same. Plus his stark white hair, tan skin, and electric green eyes were just too unique to ignore.

Now some would say part of Phantom's charm came from his overwhelming popularity. He was a huge figure in not only Amity Park but the whole country. The bad reputation the press gave him was even dwindling away thanks to the work of the Danny Phantom fan club she headed along with the work he did by himself. This made it so that his fame would be a huge turn on for most people. Heck, she'd even be one of those people too if she didn't have a run in with that genie ghost. That whole experience put her true desires into perspective. She already had the whole school fawning over her, anything more just wasn't necessary.

There were times when she tried to talk to said ghost during his time patrolling Amity Park's skies. Admittedly she may have done some crazy things like stalking him and faking a ghost attack in her attempts. He wasn't too happy with her then. Maybe that's why people say love makes you do crazy things. Sadly her efforts only seemed to annoy the hero.

That was probably why she was so surprised when he suddenly appeared outside her house one night holding a pink rose for her in one hand and knocking on her window with the other.

"Paulina," he whispered, trying his best not to startle her.

The head cheerleader looked up from the homework she was doing, or trying to do in her case. For some odd reasons, staring at Phantom's form outside her house, she couldn't remember what kind of homework it was. Oh wait, it was algebra. No wonder there were so many letters in her marth. She'd just get a nerd to do it for her later. Her brain froze when she realized she was thinking about her math homework when her ghostboy was outside wanting to talk to her.

She almost tripped going to the window and spent several seconds awkwardly fiddling with the locks before it would finally open.

"Hi," he greeted her, handing her the rose. She gave it a quick sniff before throwing it aside, soon to be forgotten on the floor of her room. "I, uh, wanted to know if you would go on a date with me this Friday," he continued with a nervous laugh. Apparently he took slight offense to her tossing the rose aside. If only she could tell him it was because all she could think about was him and not some dumb flower. Besides, she must've gotten a rose a week from her admirers at school so it wasn't anything new.

Her tunnel-visioned perception of the ghost was the main reason she caught his green tinted cheeks. He was blushing. Her dreams were finally coming true! Her ghostboy was asking her out! A small part of her brain noticed that she was probably the first human to ever see a ghost blush, and she now knew before anyone else that their cheeks turned green when they did so.

"You want to go on a date with me, ghostboy? she asked, a smile forming on her face.

He nodded as his cheeks slowly lost their color.

Perhaps it was reckless of her. Perhaps she wasn't thinking clearly. But Paulina wasn't going to let this opportunity, this dream of hers, to go to waste. Before the ghost could even react, she threw herself at him and started kissing him as passionately as she could.

This kiss was like nothing she ever expected. Waiting for a kind of warm feeling to encompass her, she got a numbingly cold chill instead. It held her, not letting up once. While a little odd at first, she decided she liked this new feeling. Only when the kiss ended did she realize they were both now floating above her lawn. She must've leaned too far out of her window during their embraced without noticing. No worries; Phantom was there to keep her afloat.

"So I'll see you at seven?"

Friday's approach was long, too long for Paulina. She went to school the next day happier than she could ever remember being and it felt great. Of course her fellow A-listers noticed this change, and even questioned her about it, but she didn't say anything. She felt a desire to keep whatever was going on between Phantom and her a secret. At least for now.

Dash asked her out like he did every couple of weeks. Usually she'd agree and they'd go on a few dates together. That is, until he did something foolish that ended up breaking them up, because all previous times it was his fault. Today things were different. She rejected him as softly as she could, a change from her normal rejections whenever anyone else asked. While some considered this an odd display of kindness on her part, she only saw it as keeping all her doors open. By rejecting Dash, she could safely go out with Phantom without anything getting in her way while also being able to return back to the jock if things didn't work out. And people thought she was stupid.

What wasn't shocking was seeing that Fenton kid suppressing a grin as he walked down the halls. That nerd was constantly a victim of Dash so he was probably happy to see him get rejected for once.

Friday finally came and the ghost that had been entertaining her thoughts for a while appeared before her with a picnic basket in hand, saying that he wanted to go somewhere out of the public eye. He didn't like the media attention and wanted to avoid a storm of questions if he could.

It was a dark and cloudy night, not like she could tell. By that she means they were a little too busy making out to pay attention to the weather. Even the basket her ghostboy brought was forgotten as she kept attacking his lips. Every once and a while the ghost would pull away and try to start a conversation, but was that really needed when she already loved him? She knew everything about him anyway. He didn't seem so sure about that himself but he let her have her way. He left after a couple hours, giving her another rose which he had stashed away in the basket. She was beginning to think he was a closet romantic at heart. Still she decided to lay it down on her dresser before going to bed.

The days leading up until their next date were even longer than the first. The fact that a reporter was able to get a picture of them kissing on their first date, the park wasn't so secluded after all, didn't help matters. Now everyone at school wanted to know what was going on. Well, everyone except for Dash. He seemed to be in a worse mood than usual, only cooling down when he finally asked out some brunette from his physics class. And while she didn't want to admit it, the hispanic girl was a little hurt by how fast the jock was able to move on.

Luckily her second date with Phantom was able to take her mind off things. This date started off similarly to the first with Phantom showing up outside her room, smiling at her like she was the most beautiful girl he's ever seen. "Hello there," he greeted when she opened her window. "Are you ready for our date?"

This time Phantom choose to take her to a local Italian restaurant, a much more public place than last time. With most everyone's attention focused on the odd pair, Paulina couldn't just kiss the living daylights out of him like last time. No, she'd have to socialize with him to keep up their image. It wasn't a good idea to have them making out in a crowded restaurant to be in the news.

So Phantom told her about some of his interests. He liked space for as long as he could remember, even dreaming of becoming an astronaut. He considered Humpty Dumpty's music to be a godsend and listened to them as much as he could, which wasn't too often due to his heroic duties. He even told her about his strange fascination with the color purple. Feeling slightly obligated in her own way, Paulina decided to respond in kind. She told him about how her family was pretty rich, something he wasn't surprised by; he saw her house after all. And how she wanted to go into fashion as soon as she could. Oddly enough she also told him a little bit Dash, leave out her love for him of course. Being the star quarterback for her school and most popular boy in school, he did come up a lot in conversations, so it wasn't too surprising for her to bring him up as well.

A part of her realized her date was a little with annoyed the current topic of conversation, but he nodded his head and smiled all the same.

"He sounds like a nice kid," he replied. "Maybe I should meet him someday."

It was at that point Paulina realized that this ghost, this boy, wanted to be a part of her life. He was taking a vested interest in her personality and motivations. She couldn't say she hated him for it either.

The check must've come without her realizing, because the next thing she knew he was standing up and offering her his gloved hand to take. "It's getting late," he said, "I should probably take you home."

This wasn't her first time flying with Phantom. She flew with him several times before. Heck, this was how they always ended up on their dates. This was the first time she felt at ease though, perfectly relaxed with her hand intertwined with his. The wind against her hair also felt nice, and she knew that no matter what he would protect her.

When they got back to her room, he was about say farewell when he was roughly yanked out into the hallway by two burly hands. Her papá. Of course he would want to have a talk with her boyfriend, whether he was human or not. Most likely her dad would try intimidating him like all her previous boyfriends. Come to think of it, only Dash was not scared off by her father. No worries. She was confident Phantom wouldn't be affected by it. An hour later she noticed a single red rose lying next to her on her bed. She should really get a vase to put these in.

And that's how most of their dates went afterward. Once or twice a week he would appear outside her room, offering her a new adventure to go on. Sometimes they would talk, other times just make out, and he would take her home, leaving her a single rose of varying colors. There got to be so many of them that the vase she bought was beginning to overflow. Of course she made sure to water them everyday. What kind of girlfriend would she be if she let the flowers her boyfriend gave her die so irresponsibly

Things at school improved as well. Dash broke up with that brunette thankfully, and seemed to be biding his time as one of Casper High's only bachelors. He still didn't seem happy with her though. Her A-list friends also left her alone about her relationship with Phantom. No longer did they want every detail about what was going on between them. Granted, that was mostly because the local news made sure to keep them entertained with frequent stories about the duo. At times they felt like stalkers more than reporters. Eh, give and take.

If there was one thing she was sure about, it was that somewhere during their relationship she began to trust him completely. Somewhere during this blissful period her feelings found a way to grew to new, unimaginable levels. She liked his gentle touch, kind heart, heroic behavior, and just about everything else about him. Of course her moment in the clouds had to come tumbling to the ground eventually.

It was probably five months into their relationship when he appeared outside her room, a little worse for the wear. This was even stranger because their date wasn't until the day after and he wasn't one for random visits.

"I have to show you something," he said. No 'hello, how are you today?'. No smile. That's how she knew something was wrong.

"Are you breaking up with me?" She asked, a horrible feeling entering her gut. Even though she had multiple relationships beforehand, she always felt that this was easily her most serious one she ever had. It was definitely the longest lasting.

"What?" He blinked, shocked by her question. "No, no, I-I have to tell you something important."

Phantom stuttering? This can't be good.

"I may not have been entirely honest with you," he continued, "or at least I may have been holding something back."

His nervousness was starting to freak her out a little so she decided to reassure him as best she could. "I love you, Phantom. Nothing can change that."

The ghost only sank onto the floor, his white hair covering his eyes. "I-" he looked like he was forming the words to 'I love you', but stopped. "I'm sorry."

With that a bright glowing ring appeared around his torso, quickly splitting off into two separate rings going up and down his body. Paulina had to look away quickly before she was blinded by the rings' brightness. When she looked back, the person in Phantom's place was not him, but Danny Fenton. The weird kid Dash liked to pick on in school. She looked around her room, trying to spot her missing ghost. This was obviously a trick he was trying to pull, though why he dragged the Fenton kid into this she didn't know. "Okay, Phantom" she finally called out. "Where'd you go?"

"I'm right here," Fenton answered, standing a little taller as if to show off the same amount of power as the ghost. "I'm Phantom."

A laugh escaped her before she even realized what was happening. "Nice impersonation. How'd you even get up here anyway? Is this some prank from him? I didn't know he had much of a funny side."

"Paulina, I'm Phantom," he repeated.

She shook her head, laughing as if it were still a joke. "No seriously, where is he?"

Sighing, the boy stuck out his hand, a green ball of energy forming around its palm. "While my ghost form does give me access to a new identity to use my powers, I can still use them whenever I want, though with limited potential."

Realization finally dawned on Paulina as her face morphed into some mix between shock and horror. "You're really Phantom," she said. "All this time I was hanging out with him, thought I loved him. It was really you."

"You hate me now because I'm a loser, right?" He asked, eyes still hidden from her. "I'm no longer worthy enough to date you, am I? All because I'm that loser with freaky parents that everyone makes fun of."

"No!" She immediately declared before rubbing her temples. "I-I just don't know who you are anymore," came her meek reply. "From what I know of you and Phantom, you two might as well be opposites. In school you barely pay attention, don't socialize with many people, and get beaten up by Dash, while as Phantom you're the exact opposite. Which one is truly you?"

The now raven haired boy looked uncomfortable with her question. "I don't know. I'm still trying to figure that out myself."

"And you lied to me too," she continued, beginning to pace around her now. "There was supposed to be no secrets between us. You told me about your past and I showed you at my most vulnerable, but you lied about your past. Not only do I not know who you truly are, I can't even trust you either. How am I supposed love someone like that?"

He sank lower to the floor, clenching and unclenching his hands. "I figured you'd want to break up with me once you found out."

She answered him with a question. "Who else knows about this?"

"Well," Danny thought about it for a second. "There's my sister Jazz, though it took her some time to find out. Then Sam and Tucker have known from the start."

A small part of Paulina felt jealous over Danny's trust in Sam. While she never paid him close attention at school, it was easy to tell that the he and the goth were close. Too close to be purely platonic at least. They were nicknamed lovebirds for a reason.

"So," Paulina replied after wiping away a few tears. "If you thought I would break up with you over this, why tell me? Why not leave me blissfully ignorant?"

Danny reached out a hand to calm her down only to be brushed off. "It wouldn't be fair for this to go any further without you know. Heck, it's not fair going as far as we did."

"I'm sorry but," Paulina began, only to choke up on her next words.

Danny grinned weakly at her. "Like I said, I expected this to happen."

Both knew what this apology meant and both knew their time together would soon come to an end.

The halfa floated to her window before stopping and flashing her another grin. "I do love you," he said, pausing for a second. "Just like I think Dash loves you, even if he doesn't show it."

Paulina's eyes widened considerably. If only so many emotions weren't running through her at the same time, then maybe she could actually think of a decent reply.

"I'm not sure how you'll deal with this; just know that you can always go to him for help. He won't betray your trust. Also, I'm sorry too," With that the boy was gone.

Finally, in the safety of her room, the girl began sobbing for what was lost, for what could've been. Her heart ached in pain. She never knew love could be so painful, that it could be so strong. She continued sobbing until her phone lying on her bed vibrated.

 **Dash: Are you okay?**

Yes, she would be fine. While this pain may hurt, and it was bound to hurt for a while, she had a good support net. Danny had Sam and Tucker to help him and she had Dash and Star. She'd get through this.

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 **If you guys didn't realize this, this is kind of a alternate perspective on one of my previous oneshots. Normally I would never do such a thing, but I felt it went well with a theme I was planning on using and this plot was different enough to not just be rewriting scenes in another perspective. In fact none of these scenes were even in the other story. Hope you all enjoyed!**


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